# Automatically created concatenating column doesn't update **URL:** \ **Category:** Report a Bug\ **Created:** [October 21, 2019, 12:06am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/automatically-created-concatenating-column-doesnt-update/1296 "2019-10-21T00:06:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![filipa](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/filipa/32/190_2.png) [@filipa](https://community.glideapps.com/u/filipa)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 12:06am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/automatically-created-concatenating-column-doesnt-update/1296/1 "2019-10-21T00:06:14Z")
I have several columns Category 1, Category 2, Category 3… and Glide automatically creates a concatenating column that brings all the Categories together in one cell. This is very useful, as I can create relation columns based on this automatic column. The problem is this column doesn’t update… For example: Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 --\> Concatenating automatic column Music [empty] Art Music // Art If I change the values: Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 --\> Concatenating automatic column doesn’t update [empty] Economy Art Music // Art Another example in the images attached: I changed the values in the columns and the values in the concatenating column haven’t updated. ![1](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/glideapps/original/2X/5/5e39777f9e50bd32d0dca37b5b43d41bb194ac6f.png) ![2](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/glideapps/original/2X/7/713631a36311adc08dd8865dcd9cb3a0f5f9015c.png) ---
**Author:** ![George\_B](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/george_b/32/534_2.png) [@George\_B](https://community.glideapps.com/u/George_B)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 12:16am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/automatically-created-concatenating-column-doesnt-update/1296/2 "2019-10-21T00:16:54Z")
Could it have something to do with Category 6 and Category 7 have “&” in them or spaces or the '. See if you change that temporarily to see if it makes a difference. ---
**Author:** ![filipa](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/filipa/32/190_2.png) [@filipa](https://community.glideapps.com/u/filipa)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 12:26am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/automatically-created-concatenating-column-doesnt-update/1296/3 "2019-10-21T00:26:19Z")
It doesn’t. I just deleted all the categories and “Anthropology / Architecture / Comics” still show up… it just doesn’t update. ---
**Author:** ![filipa](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/filipa/32/190_2.png) [@filipa](https://community.glideapps.com/u/filipa)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 12:31am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/automatically-created-concatenating-column-doesnt-update/1296/4 "2019-10-21T00:31:45Z")
I’ve just added values in 3 more rows and they don’t show up in the concatenating column… it just sticks to the values that where there when it was first created. ---
**Author:** ![filipa](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/filipa/32/190_2.png) [@filipa](https://community.glideapps.com/u/filipa)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 12:38am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/automatically-created-concatenating-column-doesnt-update/1296/5 "2019-10-21T00:38:27Z")
I think it’s because the columns Category 1, Category 2… have a formula. If they are normal fields where I write the Categories, the concatenating column updates. Does this mean automatic concatenating columns don’t work if the reference columns have formulas? ---
**Author:** ![George\_B](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/george_b/32/534_2.png) [@George\_B](https://community.glideapps.com/u/George_B)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 1:25am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/automatically-created-concatenating-column-doesnt-update/1296/6 "2019-10-21T01:25:24Z")
That may seem to be the case. You can do it in the sheet itself instead for the app builder then. Just add a column and do the =A2 & B2 & C2… formula. ---
**Author:** ![filipa](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/filipa/32/190_2.png) [@filipa](https://community.glideapps.com/u/filipa)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 1:58am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/automatically-created-concatenating-column-doesnt-update/1296/7 "2019-10-21T01:58:17Z")
But then i cannot make a relation column, as there would be multiple categories in one cell. Or am I missing something? ---
**Author:** ![George\_B](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/george_b/32/534_2.png) [@George\_B](https://community.glideapps.com/u/George_B)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 2:03am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/automatically-created-concatenating-column-doesnt-update/1296/8 "2019-10-21T02:03:17Z")
I must be the one who is missing something. How are you creating the relationship now. What I was proposing was to do the exact thing you were using the Glide Template feature to do, but do it in the spreadsheet. Were you using the Glide Template feature to concatenate those columns? ---
**Author:** ![George\_B](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/george_b/32/534_2.png) [@George\_B](https://community.glideapps.com/u/George_B)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 2:05am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/automatically-created-concatenating-column-doesnt-update/1296/9 "2019-10-21T02:05:56Z")
Oh wait, now I get it. I have never used that feature for anything other than images. I didn’t know you could then use it for a relationship. I assume under the covers it is creating an array. Humm, I guess I need more information as to what you are trying to accomplish. ---
**Author:** ![filipa](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/filipa/32/190_2.png) [@filipa](https://community.glideapps.com/u/filipa)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 2:24am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/automatically-created-concatenating-column-doesnt-update/1296/10 "2019-10-21T02:24:04Z")
Yes, I would like to use it as the reference for a relation column. It works fine, but only when the values are manually inserted, and not by means of a formula. It’s a great feature, if only it worked with formulas… So, here’s what I need: 1. I have a sheet “New products”, where I list the new books that arrived to the bookshop. There’s a column “Categories”, where I classify each book (up to 5 themes, separated by commas). Then, I split this column into 5 columns (Category 1 / Category 2…) - Glide automatically creates a concatenated Categories column. 2. Sheet “Users preferences” is where users choose their favorite categories - I’m using a checkbox field for this, and the columns names are the categories - “Anthropology” / “Architecture”… Then, I have columns “Category 1” / “Category 2”…, with the formula if(E2=TRUE,$E$1,""), that pulls the columns’ titles if they’re checked. Glide automatically creates a concatenated Categories column, and I was using it to link this sheet to the first sheet, “New products”. But since this concatenated column doesn’t update if the reference fields are formulas, I can no longer establish the relation… So, what I’m trying is to make a link between the users preferences (the favorite categories) and the newly arrived books. ---
**Author:** ![filipa](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/filipa/32/190_2.png) [@filipa](https://community.glideapps.com/u/filipa)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 3:07am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/automatically-created-concatenating-column-doesnt-update/1296/11 "2019-10-21T03:07:55Z")
@George_B, I closed the google sheets and the glide tabs in the browser and reopened them and everything is working as it’s supposed to after all - the automatic column takes formulas and all the relations are there. I guess we just have to reload everything for it to update! ---
**Author:** ![George\_B](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/george_b/32/534_2.png) [@George\_B](https://community.glideapps.com/u/George_B)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 3:11am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/automatically-created-concatenating-column-doesnt-update/1296/12 "2019-10-21T03:11:18Z")
Interesting. I hope it continues to work. I’m actually surprised that it is working at all but then again I learn something everyday about Glide and Google sheets. ---
**Author:** ![filipa](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/filipa/32/190_2.png) [@filipa](https://community.glideapps.com/u/filipa)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 3:21am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/automatically-created-concatenating-column-doesnt-update/1296/13 "2019-10-21T03:21:58Z")
Yeah, I spoke too soon… I need to filter the Inline list by signed in user and the Users relation column doesn’t show up… 😫 ![1a](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/glideapps/original/2X/6/63bbb23725944cf7230c3b1e484dcfd871c64baf.png) ![2a](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/glideapps/original/2X/3/3b6dbe75fee323fd62c9846efeb81db3f9aa95f4.png) ---
**Author:** ![Lighted\_Candle](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/lighted_candle/32/29544_2.png) [@Lighted\_Candle](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Lighted_Candle)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 6:51am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/automatically-created-concatenating-column-doesnt-update/1296/14 "2019-10-21T06:51:55Z")
Hmm, if u need to give your users the new arrivals based on their preference here’s how I would do it. 1. Give your users their own “new arrivals reference column”, based on every category. NAFiction=Newarrivals:Category:Multiple NABiography=Newarrivals:Category:Multiple And so forth. So if u have 10 categories you will need 10 new arrival reference columns. For each column you will need to run an array formula that searches their current preference and if it’s a match, “category”, if no match then " nomatch" 2 create a sheet called “Newarrivals” that runs a query against your booklist called new arrivals, you can add filter in your query to pull only books less than 30 day added or whatever you prefer. Based on a column that calculated how long the books have been added. 1. For your just arrived tab use your users sheet. 2. Switch layout to detail view and filter by user email. 5.add the inline or reference link for each “new arrival column” 3. Hide all other details about user so only the references are shown What will happen is any books that are in your new arrival sheet that matches the user preference will automatically be seen otherwise it will be hidden. You could additionally put a link for all arrivals so you don’t limit them too much. Hope this helps ---
**Author:** ![filipa](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/filipa/32/190_2.png) [@filipa](https://community.glideapps.com/u/filipa)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 10:51am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/automatically-created-concatenating-column-doesnt-update/1296/15 "2019-10-21T10:51:34Z")
@Lighted_Candle, thank you! The problem is: in the New Products sheet, each book has a Category column where up to 5 categories per book can show up, separated by commas. There’s then 5 columns - Category 1-5 - with a formula to split those categories. So, each category relation column in the Users Preferences sheet would have to relate to each of the 5 Category column in New Products. I can’t understand how to do this… I had opened a new post for this: [How to filter by signed-in user - Glide doesn't show automatically created Users relation column](https://community.glideapps.com/t/how-to-filter-by-signed-in-user-glide-doesnt-show-automatically-created-users-relation-column/1307) My app: [https://t3wff.glideapp.io](https://t3wff.glideapp.io/) Google sheet: [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NDPEhQztlho\_V22qSpUgm4U29Oay6A9mDewBfR3H3ec/edit?usp=sharing](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NDPEhQztlho_V22qSpUgm4U29Oay6A9mDewBfR3H3ec/edit?usp=sharing) Thanks!